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It was awesome - we had slight fog, but about 5:30 am EST they were shooting all over the place. I counted at least 40 a minute - extremely bright ones. One's trail glowed for a good 2 minutes - they were like pinpoints of magnesium light.

The source of the material making up the Leonid swarm is comet Tempel-Tuttle. The comet's orbital period is 33.25 years and produces a maximum debris trail in the year following its perihelion or closest approach to the sun. The comet produced giant showers in 1833 and in 1966. In 1998 the meteor swarm crossed the Earth's orbit near the L1 point, approximately 1.2 million km from Earth. The main swarm was approximately 200,000 km in diameter.

"Shooting stars" and "falling stars" are both names that people have used for many hundreds of years to describe meteors  intense flashes of moving light caused by small bits of interplanetary rock and debris called meteoroids crashing and burning high in Earth's upper atmosphere. Traveling at thousands of miles an hour, meteoroids quickly ignite in searing friction of the atmosphere, 30 to 80 miles above the ground. Almost all are destroyed in this process; the rare few that survive and hit the ground are known as meteorites.
When a meteor appears, it seems to "shoot" quickly across the sky, and its small size and intense brightness might make you think it is a star. If you're lucky enough to spot a meteorite (a meteor that makes it all the way to the ground), and see where it hits, it's easy to think you just saw a star "fall."

Lyrids  April 21
The Moon is almost new, so it won't interfere with the shower.
Eta Aquarids  May 4
The waxing gibbous Moon will overpower most of the meteors.
Delta Aquarids  July 28
The first-quarter Moon sets around 2 a.m.
Perseids  August 12
The last-quarter Moon will interfere with the shower's peak.
Orionids  October 21
The thick crescent Moon sets in late evening.
Leonids  November 17
The crescent Moon will provide no interference.
Geminids  December 13
The Moon is almost new, so it will be lost in the Sun's glare.

Meteors
Naked Eye Appearance:
Meteors appear as fast-moving streaks of light in the night sky. They are frequently referred to as "falling stars" or "shooting stars." Most are white or blue-white in appearance, although other frequent colors are yellow, orange. The colors seem more related to the speed of the meteor rather than composition. Red meteors occasionally appear as very long streaks and are usually indicative of a meteor that is skimming the atmosphere. Green meteors are also occasionally seen and are usually very bright. The green color may be a result of ionized oxygen.

What are They?
Meteoroids are the smallest particles orbiting the sun, and most are no larger than grains of sand. From years of studying the evolution of meteor streams, astronomers have concluded that clouds of meteoroids orbiting the sun were produced by comets. Meteoroids can not be observed moving through space because of their small size. Over the years numerous man-made satellites recovered by manned spacecraft have shown pits in their metal skins which were caused by the impact of meteoroids.

Meteoroids become visible to observers on Earth when they enter Earth's atmosphere. They are then referred to as meteors. They become visible as a result of friction caused by air molecules slamming against the surface of the high-velocity particle. The friction typically causes meteors to glow blue or white, although other colors have been reported. Most meteors completely burn up in the atmosphere at altitudes of between 60 and 80 miles. They are rarely seen for periods of more than a few seconds.

Occasionally, a large meteor will not burn up completely as it moves through Earth's atmosphere. The subsequent pieces that fall to Earth's surface are known as meteorites.

The story of the Leonids is a varied one. It officially begins at the beginning of the 10th century when the first accounts appeared indicating that "stars fell like rain." Similar brief accounts would appear for the next several centuries, at roughly 33-years intervals, in the written records of the Asian, European, and Muslim cultures. The very last years of the 18th century showed some signs of an increased curiousity in meteors. First, Heinrich W. Brandes and Johann F. Benzenberg (University of G๖ttingen) carried out an experiment to observe meteors at two different locations. The result was that they discovered meteors became visible at an average height of 97 kilometers.

Up to this time it was believed meteors originated within Earth's atmosphere, but the Brandes-Benzenberg experiment revealed meteors traveled at several kilometers per second which indicated an origin outside Earth's atmosphere. The second significant event that happened at the end of the 18th century was on November 12 of 1799, when the Leonids appeared and, for the first time, were actually observed by scientists who provided details accounts. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm was short-lived. Although less than a handful of astronomers began to systematically observe meteors during the 1820s, little came out of these observations other than the fact that more meteors fell on some nights of the year than on others.

This all changed on the night of November 12/13, 1833. It is true that people were awoke from their sleep by the screams of people believing the world was coming to an end, but astronomers rushed to make as detailed of observations as possible. By the time morning twilight began washing out the display in the United States, one very important fact was apparent. This meteor display appeared to radiate from one spot in the sky. Within the next few years it was realized that when enhanced displays of meteors occurred they radiated from one area of the sky. This led to the determination that meteors moved around the sun in elliptical orbits and then came the realization that comets produced meteor showers.

hey u guys are real lucky to see that shower..of lights ..but here in
india..it was not there and that also ...here the sky remains full of
clouds all the time....so if at all it is there then also its of no
use...anyway....tell me did u all enjoyed it or not ???

i wanted to see it. i woke up at 4.30am, looked out the window and it was very cloudy and raining.
i think not many people in sydney or the eastern coast of australia had any luck either because of the weather.